At the very young age of 18 months old, eighth-grader Lily Barton was diagnosed with a hair loss disease called Alopecia.

This disease had shocked her and also changed her life forever. Barton had struggled with her self confidence as she grew up with Alopecia, but luckily her family and friends were always by her side.

“My family has been very supportive, they let me pick and choose which medicine I want, if I wanted to stop a certain medication, or talk to someone,” she said.

She had dealt with many people asking and questioning her condition, but one person stood out to her. Barton told a story in her defining moment about a person in third period during sixth grade repeatedly ask her daily if she had cancer. But this kid hadn’t brought her down. Eventually, she could just laugh at them.

“There were many times I thought about just telling them the truth, and I realized that I could tell anyone for that matter, with the help of their annoyance,” she said.

Another struggle Barton had in sixth grade was people giving her unwanted or fake sympathy without knowing the full story.

“People would go talk to others or my friends about me in a rude way and be standoffish, and then come up to me and tell me I was so nice, and other sympathetic things.”

Although middle school had been a challenge, elementary was a bit different. For her, she felt comfortable, but of course still faced struggles. Barton claimed in her defining moment

“Luckily everyone already knew me since I’ve been there for so long and they were used to it after six years. I was almost normal, no one treated me differently or avoided me.”

She had also told a story in her defining moment of a man who had overcome cancer which had a scar on his chest that he showed Barton. He asked her how she was doing and although Barton told him that she only had Alopecia. He continued to support her and told her to stay strong. Which had brought her confidence up.

“Now, if someone asked me if I had cancer, I would have no problem telling them, ‘No, I have Alopecia,’ and explain the meaning.” her defining moment stated.

Kindergarten is when most people found out about Barton’s Alopecia.

“My parents would come to school and come to my classroom, and just announce it to the class. Of course, the kids were young so they didn’t understand what it meant, but they did know about it.” Barton explained.

Elementary didn't seem to phase Barton, and making friends didn't appeal as difficult.

"I came to kindergarten with one friend, then I made more friends, and I just kept them. Middle school was worse, however. I thought that it would be more difficult to make friends." Barton said.

Barton has faced many challenges with Alopecia along the way, but as she puts it, “I’m for sure better now and there’s always room for improvement, but I do sometimes feel somewhat different from everyone else.”

She no longer breaks down when someone else says something, and she won’t take any rude remarks or questions by any chance.

She is finally able to explain her condition and as her defining moment said: “I’m not a flimsy daisy in the field of tall sunflowers.”

written by Aurora Dirkx